The Witcher: Where was the series full of magic and monsters filmed?

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The The Witcher phenomenon was, until recently, known only to fantasy genre fans and PC gamers. However, once the streaming giant Netflix bought the rights to produce the series, almost everyone heard of The Witcher.

The Witcher from Netflix draws from the book series of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski. In the series, with two seasons already available and the third just starting production, the main character, the witcher Geralt of Rivia, is portrayed by actor Henry Cavill, also known as the latest actor to play Superman.

The Continent

The story takes place in a world called the Continent. The time period resembles the Middle Ages in many ways, but it is enriched with magic and various mythical creatures, such as elves, dwarves, strigas, and various monsters.

The Continent is divided into eastern and western parts. The East is more or less unexplored, containing many unknown territories and predominantly desert areas. The West is divided into the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaard.

The Northern Kingdoms, sometimes referred to as the "North," are not unified, and constant diplomatic disputes and sometimes bloody military conflicts prevail between most states. However, when Nilfgaard launches military campaigns with the intention of subjugating the territory of the Northern Kingdoms, they know how to unite and defend against a common enemy.

Nilfgaard is the most powerful empire in this universe, boasting a well-trained army, talented strategists, and a prosperous economy. Nilfgaard gained its power precisely by conquering and occupying more and more territories, including those in the North. It does not slacken in its ambitions and is constantly trying to expand.

Geralt of Rivia

The main character of The Witcher introduces himself in the books as "Geralt of Rivia," but in the book The Witcher: Baptism of Fire, Geralt explained that he chose his birthplace – Rivia – just to gain more trust from his clients. A queen came from Rivia, which supposedly gives his clients a sense of safety and comfort. In reality, Geralt comes from Kaedwen, the largest northern kingdom.

The series, which is filmed in many places across Central and Eastern Europe, follows Geralt's fate, which is intertwined especially with the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg and Princess Cirilla of Cintra.

If you haven't started watching the series yet, we won't reveal more about the plot, but below in the article, we will look at some of the locations where The Witcher was filmed, and many of them are easily accessible even for us.

Filming locations - Hungary

The beginning of the first season takes place in the town of Blaviken, where the situation occurred that earned Geralt the infamous nickname, the Butcher of Blaviken. Most of the scenes were filmed at Mafilm Studios near the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Mafilm Studios was founded in 1948 and is one of the most important studios in Hungarian cinema.

In the first part, we also visit the castle of the sorcerer Stregobor, whose exterior was also filmed at Mafilm Studios, but to depict its interior, especially the beautiful courtyard, they used the Ják Chapel (Jáki kápolna), which is located directly in Budapest, opposite Vajdahunyad Castle.

Some exterior scenes taking place on the walls and fortifications of the city of Cintra were filmed near the Slovak border, specifically in the Hungarian part of the city of Komárom, at the Monostor Fortress built in the 19th century, which forms part of the Komárom fortification system.

In the Szentendre Open-Air Museum, in the village of Sztaravoda, north of Budapest, scenes were filmed from the small village where Yennefer came from, and the scene where Ciri is in a town with a windmill from the seventh episode. This open-air museum, which shows Carpathian folk architecture and life in various areas of Hungary, was established in 1967 and, with an area of 46 hectares, is one of the largest in Hungary.

The main production of the first season was in Budapest, where they also filmed many interior scenes; for example, the graduation ball of the sorceress school in the Aretuza Hall was filmed at the Kiscelli Museum in Óbuda.

The house in Rinde, where Yennefer wanted to be possessed by a djinn, is actually Tata Castle, located by Lake Öreg in the town of Tata. This castle is from the 14th century and currently houses a museum and gallery.

On the citadel walls, there are several scenes filmed at Az Egri vár másolata, a fake castle in Pilis. This castle was built in the 1960s for the filming of a spectacular Hungarian film titled Egri Csillagok (Stars of Eger).

In the seventh episode, "Before a Fall," Yennefer stops at a Nilfgaardian archaeological dig in a land of red-yellow hills. This is the bauxite mining geological park in Gánt, Hungary.

Filming locations - Austria

The exteriors of the abandoned Vizima Castle in the icy kingdom of Temeria from the 3rd episode - "Betrayer Moon" were recorded at Kreuzenstein Castle (Burg Kreuzenstein) in Leobendorf, Austria. It is located about 25 km north of Vienna by the Danube and was rebuilt in the 19th century on the remains of an early medieval fortress.

Filming locations - Canary Islands

The first season also takes us through Yennefer's education at the Aretuza school for sorceresses. Its exteriors were digitally created and placed on the rocky island of Roque de Santo Domingo in Garafía on the coast of La Palma, which is part of the Canary Islands.

We will stay in the Canary Islands; in the second part, Geralt and the bard Jaskier (Dandelion in the English translation) were walking through them. More precisely, it was in the Barranco de Fataga area, on the island of Gran Canaria.

Brokilon Forest, home of the dryads, appears for the first time in the fourth episode. Scenes from the forest were filmed in the dense jungles of La Palma. The production filmed in the dense forests of La Zarza, which have a magical atmosphere all on their own.

In some scenes, you will see the beautiful Los Tilos waterfall hidden in the dense forest.

The producers were also interested in the fern forest of Cubo de la Galga. In real life, these lush rainforests look just as magical as they do in The Witcher.

The scene with Ciri's vision in the desert was filmed on the island of Gran Canaria, in the Natural Dune reserve in Maspalomas.

We are still on the island of Gran Canaria, where they used the impressive rocks of the Roque Nublo mountain, on the very top of which one battle took place.

The scene where Yennefer sits on an atypical black beach was filmed in the town of Agaete on Guayedra Beach.

Several scenes were also filmed in Llano de las Brujas at the Cumbrecita viewpoint. The expedition camp from the 6th episode was filmed in the volcanic scenery at the peak of Roque de Los Muchachos.

The dragon's lair, however, was filmed in Hungary in the Szelim Cave near Tatabánya.

Filming locations - Poland

The filmmakers really wanted to film in Poland, the birthplace of the book author Andrzej Sapkowski. The climax of the first season, the Battle of Sodden, was therefore decided to be filmed at the ruins of Ogrodzieniec Castle, located about 60 kilometers from Krakow.

Filming locations - United Kingdom

Several episodes of the second season take place at Kaer Morhen castle. Unfortunately, we cannot visit this hidden castle of witchers because most of the scenes that take place there were filmed on sets built at Arborfield Film Studios, located on the outskirts of London.

However, it is possible to go for a hike along the beautiful Old Man of Storr trail on the Isle of Skye in Scotland if you want to visit the famous rocky landscape that served as the exteriors for this place.

In the second season, due to the 2020 lockdown, the production could not travel much outside the United Kingdom. London's Arborfield thus became the place where a large part of this season was filmed.

Scenes in villages were filmed against a studio background. You can even still see the set of the inner courtyard of Kaer Morhen on Google Maps.

Some of the base shots of cities in The Witcher were captured using digital magic and placed in real-world locations. The capital of Redania, Tretogor, was placed in the Transylvanian city of Sighișoara in this way.

Of the many scenes that took place in forests, let's mention locations such as Bourne Wood in Farnham, Surrey, or Coldharbour Wood in Chichester, West Sussex.

The small waterfall where Ciri chases a monster is Gordale Scar in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in Northern England.

In the third part, Geralt and Vesemir take the body of their dead friend to a cave near Kaer Morhen. This scene was filmed at Hodge Close Quarry in the Lake District.

Another of the caves in the Lake District, Rydal Cave, can be seen in the seventh episode, when the bard Jaskier (Dandelion) bathes there.

The temple in ruins in Aretuza, prepared for the execution of one of the characters, was filmed at Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire. This stunning former Cistercian abbey was founded in 1132 and served until the mid-16th century, when it was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Britain.

In the fourth episode, we can see Geralt and Ciri training in the beautiful environment of the Lake District, specifically in an area called Blea Tarn. This place is among the most beautiful you can visit here.

The scene by the river with a suspension bridge that Ciri and Yennefer try to cross on their way to Cintra was filmed at Low Force waterfall in Teesdale. This place near Barnard Castle in County Durham also recently appeared in the film 1917.

The Temple of Melitele, where the main characters find themselves several times, is loosely based on the Moorish Alhambra palace in Granada. The interior is filmed in London studios, and the exterior, when Geralt and Ciri arrive, was filmed in the Lake District.

The battle of Geralt and Ciri with a winged monster was filmed in the Harrogate gardens at Plumpton Rocks.

The Witcher is a global phenomenon that has won millions of fans around the world. Every day, new enthusiasts are added, immersing themselves in the magical world of magic and monsters through books, the series, computer games, or comics. We hope our article got you on the same wavelength and perhaps even inspired you to take a trip to one of the magical locations where the series was filmed.

author Pavel Fellner